Il capitale che cresce

Il capitale che cresce, winner of the PAC 2025 (Contemporary Art Plan), is a project developed in Palestine over many years.

During numerous trips in 2009, the artist chanced upon Sarah and Saleha, Bedouin twin sisters living in the desert village of Hataleen – southeast of Hebron – and began documenting their growth with consistency, respect, and mutual trust. Shot on medium-format analog cameras, the photographs combine poetic force with documentary rigor to render their physical transformation alongside the metamorphoses tied to identity, social roles, and the progressive loss of freedom and prospects.

The physical growth presented through eleven black-and-white portraits engages in a dialogue with the shrinking of the land, depicted through seven hand-engraved glass maps: starting from historical Palestine, these engraved maps are visible only when illuminated, cast as shadows. The work invites viewers to “shed light” in order to read reality through its shadows.

A third element centers on the “children’s dream” of seeing the sea—which remains inaccessible to them despite living just a few kilometers away. Biancardi provided paper and colors, inviting the young community to draw it.

Alongside additional small-format images of the site and the clan, a video retraces the arduous journey undertaken by the artist for years from East Jerusalem to the village of Hataleen up until 2023.